Armies of Evil

Finished the Necromancer & Started on Some Goblins

So, I managed to get some sessions in this week and finished off Vonatar the necromancer, evil villain and poster boy of the second Lone Wolf gamebook - Fire on the Water. After deciding to paint him up using the  paint scheme in Gary Chalk's drawing, I decided he would need a base to match. i.e. wooden decking of a death hulk. This proved to be a bit more complicated than I was planning because he is mounted on a solid base and I had to shave down the planks to fit around him and sit nicely around his robes. However, once started you got finish. Now I still need to make a 40mm base for him but since the 20mm is the deck of a ship then 40mm one will have to be the same...

Anyway, attention for the moment has turned to finishing a group of 20 goblins for my Midgard armies project. Now, these minis are mix of Oldhammer C13 goblins, Oakbound ones from the 2024 calendar and a few other randoms. 

Since I enjoyed the first pack, I bought some more for a Friday nights entertainment.

Rob 

The Other Necromancer Arrives

With Age Appropriate Friends

Time for Lone Wolf to spring into action!

While I was away on work, Vonatar  turned up. So, I just had to get him unwrapped and for a over forty year mini he is in great condition. I have already decided he should be painted up to match the Lone Wolf cover art by the excellent Gary Chalk. And be mounted on a 20mm base which fits on a larger 40mm base. So, he can join the forces of Midgard as either a lowly minion or a as a powerful commander. 

Plenty of opportunity try some nice strong beers while I was away... 

Rob 

High Elf Warrior Kindred Completed

High Elves are called to Battle

The 'big' unit done and the first army regiment completed in the high elf army. 

The keen eyed amongst you will have recognised the banner. It is a banner drawn by Gary Chalk for the 3rd Citadel compendium*, so seems entirely appropriate for this 80s army. Especially as it is supposed to for Lothern Sea guard. 

*Obviously I didn't cut up my 3rd Citadel compendium, but scanned it instead. 

There is only one duplicate, but I hope rectify this issue with a delivery from eBay!

 

And it is Friday night, so time for a real ale, In this case Adnams Ghost ship IPA. 

Rob 

The Defenders of Kachas Pass

 Wood Elf Captain - Erdolas Thringal

The latest elf painted is who is also C08 high elf but is named as Erdolas Thringal, the wood elf captain at Kachas Pass guard. From Blood bath at Orcs Drift fame. Another very nice mini by Aly Morrison and who will act as the commander of the archer unit in my high elf army. 

Erdolas Thringal leads the wood elves of Kachas Pass 

against the Vile Rune orcs.

Thringal by Gary Chalk 

(Copyright Games Workshop)

Not sure which came first the drawing or the mini but they are a pretty good match. 

Mark 1 Captain Thringal taking on the Vile Rune Orcs. 

Rob 

Return to Orcs Drift

Captain of Elf Guard at Orc's Drift

In between painting up Magua from Last of the Mohicans, I also found time to finish of Brommedir. Captain of the Elf Guard at Orcs Drift

Obviously had to include the excellent picture of Brommedir from the Orcs Drift boxed set by Gary Chalk. The character of Brommedir had a special instruction during the final scenario which is pretend to be deaf and make the Dwarven commander repeat any commands. Just to wind him/her up!

Copyright Games Workshop

Brommedir alongside some contemporary high elves.

I popped these two figures in this post, because I was impressed by the smoothness of the zenithal highlights and they fit the Oldhammer theme.  It might be a fairly basic airbrush but the results are pretty good. 

And finally got round to working on Bilbo, from the Hobbits of the Shire set. Some figures seem to almost paint themselves. This is not one of those miniatures. I couldn't paint one bit without getting paint on another bit!

Rob 

This Way Madness Lies...

Starting the Wood Elves

Wood Elves the first army I seriously attempted but which got derailed early on after only a few beast handlers and a couple of cavalry were painted. Probably by WH40K which took over from fantasy for a good many years.

 And while I have thought about doing a wood elf army I have never gone back to it seriously  until now. Inspired at the time (and now)  like many by Gary Chalk's excellent elf drawings. 

White Dwarf 41, Artist Gary Chalk,
© Games Workshop

One of the key features is that I want this  to be primarily a  metal army. So this does limit the figures choices and I would really like this army to be centred around Skarloc's Wood elves, but they are just too expensive these days. 

So I have decided to use other Nineties designed figures instead. So will be basing this army around the ex-Grenadier figures (Now Fornlorn Hope or Battlezone), Celtos (Now Brigade Miniatures) and probably Ral Partha Europe.  With a few vintage Citadel miniatures thrown in for good measure. 

Does that make them still Oldhammer?

I also plan to buy and prep the army before getting started on some serious painting. Something I don't normally do. It is usually buy a few figures, paint a few figures and repeat. This means the army does grow in an organic way but sometimes I get distracted before I complete the main units.  I have drafted out a 1000pt WFB 3rd Edition army with 500pts of stretch goals.

Rather than the traditional greens and browns, I plan to continue with the greys and muted colours I used for the elves in the Fae army. Best typified by Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2. Elves which aren't really just Wood, High or Dark elves. 

For some weird reason,  I would like to mount them all on a slotta style base but Ex-Grenadier elves all come with a wide integral base. Now I am not bothered about mounting them on a 25mm base (instead of the standard 20mm WFB 3rd edition base) because most of the games I play put elves on a 25mm base anyway. But it does mean I need to decide how I want to do this as I don't want to mount the integral straight on top of a slottabase. As it makes them just a bit too tall and the integral base generally sticks out a bit around the edges. 

So I could either cut base off, but for now I will try making a Milliput base and fitting the existing base inside. Although some of the bases will have to be reduced by cutting a section out of the middle. 

The left figure's Integral base has been reduced by
cutting the central section by a few mm

Once set, the bases can be tided up. 

Rob 

Lone Wolf Nidnuks & Emerald Prince

Only One Lone Wolf Figure left & the Emerald Prince

Easy Prey?

So I have nearly painted all of the figures in my Lone Wolf collection. Only one Giak left to paint. Whilst I will keep an eye out for the remaining figures. The prices are usually beyond what I am prepared to pay so my collection is almost finished for now My Lone Wolf collection Picture.  Anyway the two Nidnuks have now been been finished. These Nidnuks  are small mouse men who act as scavengers in the Lone Wolf world. 

The figures are really small, only about 10mm high. So time for the small brushes!

Gary Chalk has done a couple of pictures (One shown below) of them for the Lone Wolf books. Which nicely capture the spirit of the characters. I am not sure that these sculpts quite meet the high standards of the drawings. Fortunately other figures in the range do a much better capturing the spirit of the books and Gary Chalk's illustrations. 

Nidnuk Chieftain by Gary Chalk

Finishing off Some Fae

After my Fantasy Warriors game, last month. I was inspired to finally get round to finishing off one my Fae units, The Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt was missing the leader of the hunt - The Emerald Prince. In the game, the Wild Hunt couldn't finish off the Grateful Dead A Finely Balanced Encounter and fight lasted nearly all game. So I think the leader of the hunt would have helped tip the balance in favour of the Wild Hunt. This just leaves the sprite unit from my original Fae army plan. Maybe I might get them finished before Christmas...

I chose a classic Mark Copplestone wood elf warchief  from Grenadier (via Fornlorn Hope). As with all of the elves in the Fae army. I have avoid going for 'normal' flesh colours, so as the name suggested I went all in with the colour green. Which was an interesting change to stick to a smaller range of colours. He looks a bit darker in the photos than in 'real' life but overall I think he fits the bill. However, I would of liked a couple of extra different greens. So I could do with a wider range of paints. It is always more exciting to buy figures but a few more paints is a must over the next few months.

Rob  

Flight From the Dark

 Lone Wolf Returns

I'm on a bit of a Lone wolf Miniatures roll, having painting  more figures this year than the last twenty years put together. So with Lone Wolf painted, I have four figures left, so I think its time to finish painting the rest. It would be good to get the rest of the set (& I will keep my eyes open) but the prices are just to high to justify spending that much on just four more figures. Especially when there are many other great Oldhammer figures for much less money. I am glad I got these ones when the prices were ok. 

I tried go for a colour scheme which fits a ranger. With a bit of dirt as he can't he too clean living in the wilds. The original drawing has a bit too much green, so I decided to limit the green to the cloak only. Using browns instead.  

Almost alone in the wilds

The Classic Gary Chalk Lone Wolf drawing.
Its is pretty clear to see the drawing
was the inspiration for the figure. 

A bit of mud on the cloak

Fighting off Giak raiders

My entire Lone Wolf collection

Rob

A White Dwarf Milestone

Here Come the Miniatures

Cover by Alan Craddock

Whilst looking for the White Dwarf with the Lone Wolf figures issue. I came across this copy of White Dwarf  (52) from April 1984. It is the first issue with a regular miniature feature - Tabletop Heroes. It seems Joe Dever and Gary Chalk were both regular contributors to this feature. This set the format for several years with one page of photos and one page of hints and tips. Each  month tended to have a theme with photos and feature trying together.  In the first issue - fantasy knights. 

A high quality and typical artwork for the cover of this era. Most of the artwork I haven't seen elsewhere. Which suggests it was commissioned for White Dwarf. Anyway on to the article.

There wasn't much else miniatures related in White Dwarf except for an advert for new Citadel miniatures. Both boxed sets by Aly Morrison. The miniatures can be seen on Stuff of Legends. 

Rob